Cathedral of Redwoods: A Half-Day Pilgrimage to Muir Woods and Sausalito

You step out of the van and the city’s edges — foghorns, traffic hum, a last city scent of coffee and salt—seem to fold away. The path underfoot softens from asphalt to pine duff and the air shifts, cooler and humid, scented with cedar and wet earth. Overhead, trunks the color of old mahogany rise like columns, each a living monument to centuries. For two hours you walk beneath this canopy: a measured, reverent stroll through Muir Woods that feels less like a hike than a slow unlocking of why people travel to Northern California at all.